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Rockingham County's budget for the 2018 fiscal year (which begins July 1) includes a proposed $0.04 increase in the real estate tax rate, which would increase from $0.70 to $0.74 per $100 of assessed value.

Some context....

It would appear that this $0.74 real estate tax rate may be the highest real estate tax ever levied on property owners in Rockingham County. The previous high was $0.71, which was in place between 2000 and 2005.

It seems that this will be the third consecutive year of increased taxes -- which will have jumped from $0.64 (2014) to $0.68 (2015) to $0.70 (2016) to $0.74 (2017). This will mark a 15.6% increase in the real estate tax rate over a three year period.

The median sales price of homes in Rockingham County in 2016 was $203K. If all homes were assessed at their market values, this $0.04 increase between 2016 and 2017 would equate to an annual increase of $81.20 in real estate tax on a median priced home. This would be an increase of $6.76/month -- just a bit less than a Starbucks Venti, Quad-Shot Caramel Macchiato.

Rockingham County held a public hearing this week and nobody (that's right, count them, zero people) made any comments about whether they thought it was OK for these tax rates to increase.